Effect of switching to long-acting injectable (LAI) aripiprazole on long-lasting antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia: A report of two cases

Abstract

Introduction

Antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia (> 29 ng/ml in women) is associated with relevant side-effects.

Aim

We describe the case of two women aged 50 and 54 years, respectively, diagnosed with schizophrenia who were receiving outpatient treatment with paliperidone depot 100 mg/month and risperidone depot 50 mg/2 weeks, respectively and complained of oligoamenorrhoea and amenorrhoea for at least 6 months.

Methods

Routine blood tests showed hyperprolactinemia of 203.5 ng/ml and 306.2 ng/ml, respectively. The patients were evaluated by the Endocrinology unit and an MRI was performed discarding the presence of any primary brain condition. Both patients were switched to LAI aripiprazole due to its partial agonism of D2-brain receptors. At the time of switching both patients were stable in terms of psychopathology.

Results

Changes in prolactin levels 3 months after switching are shown in the Fig. 1. Two months after switching, both patients regained cyclic menstrual function. After 6 months, they still showed psycopathological stability.

Conclusions

Several studies have described an improvement of drug-induced hyperprolactinemia after switching to or adding oral aripiprazole. In these two cases, the normalization of prolactin levels and the resolution of oligoamenorrhoea/amenorrhoea were observed as soon as 2–3 months after switching to LAI aripiprazole. These findings suggest that switching to LAI aripiprazole may be an effective alternative for managing antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Fig. 1